Obama's stem cell policy, expected to loosen restrictions, has had the opposite effect

[a kennedy]

By TODD FINKELMEYER

It would be hard to overstate the excitement scientists at UW-Madison and elsewhere felt when President Barack Obama signed an executive order lifting restrictions on taxpayer-funded research using human embryonic stem cells.

Among those in attendance at the White House on March 9, 2009 for the president's announcement were Jamie Thomson, UW-Madison's world-renowned stem cell pioneer, and Clive Svendsen, then the co-director of UW-Madison's Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.

"It was one of the most exciting moments of my life, and Jamie said the same thing," Svendsen, who left UW-Madison Dec. 1 to direct a new institute in Los Angeles, told the Cap Times last year.

Thomson, who was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells in 1998, released a statement that noted: "The executive action by President Obama lifting restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research is a welcome milestone for our field. The decision will help restore America as a leader in this field and is a clear path out of a policy thicket that has slowed the pace of discovery for eight years."

But a year later much of that excitement has been replaced by hand-wringing, with many scientists complaining that Obama's new stem cell policy is creating new barriers and jeopardizing years of experimentation.

full article: <http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/article_db65ba4a-4ec6-11df-8361-001cc4c002e0.html>

[dkf]

1. Obama had good intentions but his policies seem to come out all f'ed up.

Makes you wonder if they simply don't understand how to write good policy.

[midnight]

2. I had no idea the impact of the regulations on the stem cell research.

Science in general was shunted under the Bush administration. Sounds like those constraints have held over.